Lucky Number Seven
by seabo76
Summary: An embedded reporter with the SSV Normandy finally gets her chance to go on a combat mission with the Legendary Commander Shepard and his squad


_Hong System, SSV Normandy approaching planet Casbin_

_August 2183_

Rebecca Simone-Perez leaned back against the bulkhead as she watched Commander Shepard and his handpicked squad pile out of the elevator and cross the cargo bay.

She sighed morosely, once again the 'Magnificent Seven' as she called them, were heading off on a mission while everyone else was, as usual, relegated to twiddling their thumbs and watching the live feeds from helmet cams.

Her eyes narrowed as she counted them trooping by her talking, laughing and teasing each other in their usual enclosed pack like mentality. Even Kaiden was involved, as much as the uptight, introverted Biotic could be she guessed. Commander Marcus Shepard was, as usual, at the center holding court like an altruistic potentate but something seemed off. Then she caught it and her eyebrow raised questioningly.

Liara was missing.

Marcus, as if sensing her watching, pivoted and fixed her with that intense stare of his as a slow smile spread across his face.

"Told you guys I'd figure something out to keep our lucky number! Rebecca! Suit up on the double! Drop in six mikes!"

The reporter froze before quickly bringing her expression under control and nodding, in what she hoped at least, was a confident and assertive manner before sprinting off across the cargo bay to her locker.

The others watched her with a mixture of envy and resentment. She had not been very popular with them before, sadly understandable considering that the last reporter who had expressed an interest in Commander Shepard, Khalisah al-Jilani, had been such a colossal bitch.

She had so far maintained a strict professional line in the week that she had been aboard, running video bites of the Marine squad drilling and dealing as effectively as she could with their overly polite deference as they whispered to each other behind her back.

Now though, this was her time. She wasn't sure what he had planned but it just might gain her some acceptance with Shepard's posse and, right now, she didn't really care where it came from just as long as she might be able to finally have someone to socialize with on this damn ship!

Stripping out of her jumpsuit and donning her brand new armor in record time she hustled back and skidded to halt in front of the Mako with two minutes to spare.

"Impressive." Shepard grinned. He pivoted gracefully once again and headed for the Mako ramp where the rest of his squad was waiting. "Sorry to spring this on you but Liara was a last minute no go. She uh-uhm well she says she's sick. Uhm, with the flu."

"Shepard, hate to break this to ya," Garrus cut in as he patted the Commander on the shoulder, his face dramatically grim, "but Asari don't get the flu. That's a Human thing."

Marcus stopped dead in his tracks, almost causing Rebeccah to run into him, and eyed the Turian suspiciously.

"What exactly are you implying?"

"It's like this you see," Garrus brought his hands up and started scissoring them together. "When an Asari and pretty much anything get down and dirty to do the Snu Snu-"

"They usually wind up with a baby blue?" Tali finished up shyly. "I-I've heard that one before!"

"One minute to drop Commander!" Joker's rasping voice came jarringly over the intercom. "Better button it up!"

Fixing both Tali and Garrus with a death glare, the Commander ran up the ramp and into the cockpit of the Mako. Rebeccah took a seat between Ashley and Garrus, struggling to engage the shoulder harness as she inputted commands into her omni tool for the two hovering camera drones.

With a click of his mandibles and a sub harmonic hum, Garrus reached around her and expertly snapped them in.

"You might want to hold onto those," he warned mildly and pointed to the drones as he mimicked an explosion.

Joker again came over the comms.

"Drop in five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"Booyah!" Bellowed Marcus as the Mako lurched sickeningly and they began to drop like a stone, "I love this part!"

The Reporter felt her stomach heave, bringing both arms up to hold on to the overhead straps, she struggled to keep her breathing calm and her lunch from having an explosive exit. She could feel Ashley and Garrus sharing a look.

"So, Mrs. Perez," the Turians voice was perfectly calm and measured as if hurtling in a metal coffin through the upper atmosphere and, ultimately, plunging to its doom on whatever damned planet they were dropping on was a common occurrence. "How many Mako drops have you had?"

"Including this one?" She struggled to keep her voice light but it sounded as if it wavered horribly, even to her. "One!"

Garrus folded over laughing as Ashley shook her head mirthlessly and grabbed Rebecca's arm.

"Don't hold on to the straps, you'll likely dislocate your shoulder when Marcus floors it!"

"Floors it?" She squeaked.

"Yuppers!" The Marine exclaimed happily as she pantomimed hitting the proverbial gas pedal. "I'm pretty sure he had Garrus disconnect the brakes!"

Rebecca looked around, horrified, at the rest of the squad. Garrus was still laughing hysterically. Kaiden, strapped into the turret that was elevated slightly above them, appeared to be asleep, his helmet clenched firmly between his knees and, of all things, a neck pillow wedged between the shock frame and his head. Wrex was inspecting Tali's shotgun as the Quarian explained the new modifications she had added, both appearing as calm as if they were seated at an armory table instead of this plunging deathtrap.

And then there was Commander Shepard. The man was hunched over, counting his fingers with an intense look of concentration on his face and completely oblivious to everything going on around him.

"Oh my God!" She screamed. "You're all insane!"

"Just wait until he hits the ground," Kaiden muttered, his eyes still closed.

Marcus looked back at the rest of his squad with a worried expression. "I shouldn't worry, right? You guys were just messing with me, right?"

Ashley looked back at him, rolling her eyes, and was about to reply when they widened and she began to point out the window emphatically. "Ground! Shepard! Ground!"

The Spectre swore explosively in at least five different languages as he hauled back on the altitude controls with both hands. With a hiss and more gut wrenching shakes the Mako gradually began to invert towards the horizontal.

Just in time to hit the ground like a projectile.

After several bounces, a slide down a cliff, and a massive cloud of pollen all accompanied by screams of abject fear and horror, the Mako finally came to a stop.

Marcus placed his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair as he spun in a circle, a foolish grin on his face.

"Nailed it," he said happily. "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch me soar. We good?"

The other occupants gradually gave him shaky thumbs up. Rebecca was the last, still shocked from what she had been subjected to and her mind still trying to recover from the multiple gravity force descent from orbit. Amazingly, her drones seemed to be in one piece, albeit one now sporting a nice scar of chrome on it's armored dome. With a command she put the one in standby and the other on active record.

Marcus nodded in acknowledgement. "No broken bones. No bodily fluids on the floor. I count this one a win!" He turned back to the window and flipped on the wiper blades to clean off the goop. "Hope that wasn't a life form. Onwards and upwards!"

With that he floored the accelerator and the Mako spun drunkenly into life quickly gaining velocity, and air, as it bounced over small ridges, rocks and other obstacles.

"Commander, I should remind you that this is classified as a nascent garden world." Kaiden's dull monotone would have been perfect in a lecture hall but seemed totally out of place in the bouncing chaos. "As such, the Council has prohibited landing and any destruction of the native flora and fauna will be punishable by fines or incarceration."

"What?" Yelled Shepard as the Mako sailed over another ridge and landed in what looked like a giant pool of fungus. Spores flew everywhere and the wheels squealed as they tried to find traction. "I can't hear you over the sounds of my tires squishing everything!"

"Doesn't matter," sighed Kaiden. "As if it would stop you anyways."

"Damn straight," Shepard responded smugly. "Coming up on the Geth Outpost now. Gear up guys. We're going for the strategic strike this time."

"Oh that's a good one Commander," quipped Ashley as she loaded her assault rifle with Tungsten rounds. "As opposed to the usual crashing into a wall and screaming 'Oh God, improvise?'"

"You forgot the part where, by that time, the Mako is usually on fire and has several organic things jammed up in its axles," offered Garrus helpfully. Ashley nodded and brought her fist up which the Turian pounded back.

"You guys are terrible," Shepard sighed and shook his head. "Here I am trying to up our professional image for Mrs. Simone-Perez and you're all definitely _not_ helping."

"Maybe should have thought about that before the horrifying, death defying and generally insane drive through the countryside, Sir." Kaiden's deadpan delivery made Tali cackle and elicited a deep rumble from Wrex.

Even Rebecca had to smile.

The Commander made a deliberate show of ignoring them as the Mako ground, mercifully, to a halt. "Okay, everyone button up tight! It's a hundred degrees in the shade here and the air is about as thick as tomato soup." With that he slapped the rear door control and followed everyone as they plunged into the murky redness.

Shepard's plan was simple but brutally effective. He laid it out quickly, for Rebecca's benefit. Being down a biotic their normal tactic of a four and three split shock and awe blitz was scrapped in favor of Plan D. As in distract and disorient. Garrus and Tali would be the distraction, sniping and hacking respectively while Kaiden provided defense with his barriers and overwatch. Shepard would lead the main strike, a hard hitting hammer of an assault force that would repeatedly strike and fade hopefully running the Geth defenders ragged and making them easier for Tali and Garrus to take out.

As Garrus opened the exchange with a masterful one shot kill on a Rocket Trooper the others went in.

Rebecca quickly found herself woefully unprepared for the sheer carnage of it all. It was like a perfectly choreographed ballet as they flowed around each other. She cursed as she finally managed to get both her camera drones up in the air

Wrex was a rock, the largest shotgun she had ever seen in his hands barking repeatedly as he glowed with biotics and roared with glorious abandon.

Ashley was a quick striker, moving forwards and unleashing devastating rapid fire assaults before pulling back behind Wrex's solid bulk to cool her weapon.

The binary squawks of dismay and confusion heralded Tali's hacking abilities as, one after another, a Geth would turn on it's comrades and be brought down in a torrent of friendly fire.

Kaiden and Garrus worked in tandem, the biotic using throws and lifts to set up an impressive number of head shots from Garrus's sniper rifle.

But it was Commander Marcus Shepard who truly awed the young Reporter. He never stopped moving, a literal dervish of deadly force as he sprinted from cover to cover, alternating between full auto from his assault rifle to carefully placed debilitating shots from his heavy pistol as it cooled. Rebecca had always looked down on Marines and had a distinct disdain for the N class specialists who she saw as little more than blunt instruments, her views sadly influencing her coverage as well. She now realized how wrong she had been. She had met great tacticians and soldiers before but Shepard? Shepard was like a conductor of the greatest symphony of chaos and carnage she had ever seen.

It was over before it even seemed to start. An entire Geth garrison force annihilated as if it was just another daily occurrence.

Rebecca sat wearily down on the ridgeline, her camera drones still dutifully recording, as the group came together laughing, cheering and fist bumping each other in triumph.

_How the hell am I going to write this up? _She thought, mind still trying to process everything she had seen amidst the visions of the accolades and rewards that could very well be in her near future.

* * *

_A/N_

_Had this idea bouncing around for a while now and finally decided to throw it together in a one-shot right before Christmas! _

_Happy Holidays all!_

_Seabo76_


End file.
